Has Donald Trump Appointed Madam Maryam Rajavi As Foreign Minister Of Albania?

Dr. Olsi Jazexhi, Tirana, Albania, Iranian.com, December 21 2018:… The Iranian Mojahedin who started to come to Albania as war refugees since 2013, have since the election of Donald Trump in the White House become very aggressive in the country. The MEK which runs a paramilitary camp in the village of Manza outside Durres, have been accused by various Albanian and Western media outlets of running illegal activities in Albania …

Has Donald Trump Appointed Madam Maryam Rajavi As Foreign Minister Of Albania?

by Olsi Jazexhi

The news of the expulsion of two Iranian diplomats caught everybody by surprise in Tirana on December 20. The Iranian embassy and its ambassador Gholamhossein Mohammandia have kept a very low profile in Tirana in the past months. While Iran has been very upset with Albania, which since 2013 is hosting on its soil a violent Iranian jihadi organization, the Mojahedin e Khalq (MEK), its embassy and ambassador who understand that Albania is not an independent state, but a puppet of the U. S., has kept a very low profile. The most that the embassy has done is to politely ask Albania to respect Iran which has always respected Albania, to distance itself from MEK’s terrorism and to warn Albania about this terrorist organization.

The Iranian Mojahedin who started to come to Albania as war refugees since 2013, have since the election of Donald Trump in the White House become very aggressive in the country. The MEK which runs a paramilitary camp in the village of Manza outside Durres, have been accused by various Albanian and Western media outlets of running illegal activities in Albania. MEK, which breaks many Albanian and international laws, calls on a daily basis for violent jihad against Iran. They keep many of their members in slave-like conditions, who are brainwashed and radicalized with the idea of violent jihad. If an Albanian were to do in Albania what MEK and their cult leader Maryam Rajavi does, he or she would have ended up in jail as a terrorist and imprisoned for up to 15 years. However, Albania does not implement its laws on MEK, since they are ordered not to do so by the Americans.

From its paramilitary camp in the village of Manza, MEK carries out daily twitter attacks, fake news production and espionage against Iran, but not only this. The people who are familiar with their websites and publications know that MEK attacks even Albanian and Western media outlets which do not support the stance of the Trump administration regarding Iran or question the ‘democratic’ credentials of this terrorist jihadi organization. Through its paid writers MEK has attacked in recent months many Western news outlets, like the MSNBC, Al-Jazeera English, Britain’s Channel 4 News, The Guardian, and The Independent. It has also attacked many media and personalities in Albania, including Albania’s former president, Rexhep Mejdani, by claiming that they work for Iran against the ‘democratic opposition’ of Madame Maryam Rajavi.

MEK which does not use and does not accept democracy and criticism has never accepted a public debate about its past and present crimes, its cultish organization and the enslavement of its members. Anyone who dares to criticize them is viciously lynched and attacked as an Iranian agent, advocate of the Mullahs of Tehran or as someone who is part of Tehran’s influence operations.

Thanks to the total American control over Albania, MEK has established a state within a state. In its paramilitary camp in Manez, MEK keeps many of its members as slaves, does not allow them to walk out of the camp, talk to their families, marry, have families, find a job and live a free life. By psychological coercion and brainwashing it threatens anyone who dares to question the existence of this violent paramilitary cult with either direct violence as they did with the journalist of Channel 4 or the Canadian Mostafa Mohammadi, the father of Somayeh Mohammadi (a radicalized jihadi woman whom they keep in isolation), or else they launch slander and verbal attacks.

“Thanks to the total American control over Albania, MEK has established a state within a state.”

The verbal and slander attacks that MEK conducts against the free media in Albania, have created a climate of fear in the country. In July 2018 when Mostafa Mohammadi was in the country and sued MEK for abduction and radicalization of his daughter who has abandoned Canada and joined the jihad of MEK, few Albanian media outlets dared to publish his story. Stories have emerged of how MEK paid many media outlets in the country in order to buy their silence regarding the abduction of Somayeh Mohammadi. MEK commanders like Behzad Saffari, Farid Totounchi (Mahoutchi), Jila Deyhim visited all major media outlets in Albania to ‘convince’ them not to publish anything against MEK and their ‘holy’ supreme leader, Maryam Rajavi.

MEK has managed to terrorize not only the media but even many Albanian MPs. An Albanian MP who takes part in the meetings that MEK and Maryam Rajavi holds every year in Paris under the banner of Free Iran, told the writer of this article that “We know who the MEK are. They are a terrorist organization, whom the Americans killed themselves. But the Americans have told us to protect them, and we are protecting them.”

Since their arrival in Albania in 2013, MEK which acts like Al-Qaeda in the Taliban’s Afghanistan, has continuously asked the Albanian government to close the Iranian embassy in Tirana and expel the ‘Mullah’s diplomats’, since according to MEK the government of Iran is not the one based in Teheran, but is Maryam Rajavi and her jihadis. The Albanian government which was forced by the Americans to host these ex-terrorists as war refugees has found itself in a very difficult position in the last years. The Iranian refugees of MEK are not acting like the refugees from Syria, Palestine, Iraq and Afghanistan to whom Albania has offered asylum. They do not integrate but dictate their own policies to their host country. The Albanian government which has dealt with the issue of violent extremism in the past is very upset to see how MEK breaks many laws in Albania, keeps their members as slaves, beats their opponents in the streets of Tirana, harasses journalists, and according to an Albanian police report they harass, blackmail and can even kill their own members.

The pro-MEK MP who sits on Albanian National Security Council with whom I spoke in August 2018, told me: “We are in a very difficult position with MEK. We go to Paris to support Maryam Rajavi, because our British and American friends tell us to do so. MEK is very unhappy with the Rama government because they are not doing what MEK is asking him to do. But the opposition (Democratic Party) MPs are supporting them. We make sure that they do not keep guns in their hands. I told them to open their camp and deradicalize, but on the other hand we have the Iranian embassy here. With MEK, we do what the Americans tell us to do. I have told MEK that they must integrate themselves into Albanian society, open their camp but I do not know if they will listen to me.”

While Albania is in very difficult situation with the MEK and Albanian public opinion is very upset with the Edi Rama government for bringing these terrorists in the country, MEK are offered a high class treatment by the Trump and Israeli administrations and are used as a major carrot by the U.S. administration against the European Union and its policies towards Iran. The E.U. and many other governments are upset with Albania for hosting MEK, but they do understand the difficult situation of the corrupt government of Edi Rama which is accused of cooperating with major drug trafficking organizations.

The announcement on Twitter by John Bolton, the U.S. National Security Advisor of President Trump, that the Prime Minister of Albania, Edi Rama had expelled the Iranian ambassador from Albania caught everyone by surprise in Tirana. Edi Rama, who most probably was not aware of what the Americans were up to, has not made a single statement about this event and it seems that he did not know what was going on, until Bolton communicated to Tirana and the world the news on December 19. When MEK organized a propaganda meeting in Manez on December 15, they asked Pandeli Majko, Minister of the Diaspora in the Rama government ‘why does Albania still host an Iranian Embassy in Tirana’. Majko who is a major supporter of MEK and has previously supported the Bush administration in its rendition and torture programs in Afghanistan and Iraq, told the MEK that we keep the Iranian embassy in Tirana because of international law.

Albanian government officials, contrary to what John Bolton claimed, had not expelled any Iranian diplomat and had no idea what was going to come. The Iranian embassy did not know anything as well and had not received anything from the Albanian government. When news of the expulsion of the Iranian diplomats broke, many Albanian journalists who deal with issues of security, terrorism and crime contacted the Albanian Foreign Ministry to ask what was going on and who were the people that Albania was planning to expel. The Foreign Ministry had no answer since they did not know. PM Edi Rama, who is facing major scandals and public protests in the country, also seemed confused by the expulsion story.

A parliamentary delegation from Albania meets with Maryam Rajavi

The whole history of the expulsion of the Iranian diplomats from Albania seems like a Trump – Netanyahu desperate affair which uses poor, corrupt and obedient Albania for their global confrontation with the European Union and other major world powers against Iran. The Americans and Israelis know that Edi Rama and his corrupt government will not dare to say no to the Americans. After the announcement, Rama was congratulated by the Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu, Donald Trump and others in the U.S. administration for the ‘brave act’ that Albania and he probably did not know was coming. Israeli and U.S. media outlets are producing amazingly outrageous fake news stories about the expulsion of the Iranian diplomats. They now are accusing Iran for planning an attack on the Israeli football team which played in Albania in 2016, even though the Israelis and the Americans back in 2016 accused ISIS for this falsely claimed attack. Back in 2016, the government of Edi Rama, which does anything to appease Israel and America, created a major embarrassment against the Muslim community in Albania by detaining and terrorizing 200 Muslimsthroughout the country, while the governments of Albania and Kosovo jailed dozens of Muslims and Imams without any proof. These people who have been held in incarceration without any facts for more than two years for their alleged plan to attack Israelis, up to this moment have not been convicted, since Albanian prosecutors have not managed to find a single piece of evidence of the intended attack that Israel claimed in 2016.

The fantastic fake news story that the Israeli Mossad produced in November 2016 against the Muslims of Albania and Kosovo is now being twisted again. The Trump administration and their Israeli friends, who for some very strange reasons ordered the Albanian government via Twitter to expel two Iranian diplomats, are now accusing Iran of planning to kill the Israelis in 2016. Shpend Kursani, a Kosovar deradicalisation expert and Fatjon Mejdini an investigative journalist who were commenting on Tim Judah’s Twitter account on 20 December 2018 wrote:

Which would mean, charges against those who were locked in the prison because, as their court proceesings suggest, of their links to ISIS, should be dropped, and prosecution should restart, perhaps by replacing "ISIS" with "Iran" in charges. What a contradiction would that be 🙂

The comments of Kursani and Mejdini above show the confusion and amazement that exists in Albania regarding the expulsion of the Iranian diplomats and the claim that Iran and not ISIS planned to attack the Israelis back in 2016. Albanian journalists, many of whom were trained by the Americans and Israelis themselves on issues of extremism and violent jihad are shocked by what they read from the U.S. administration and Israeli officials. Every decent human being on this planet knows that Iran has nothing to do with terrorism in Albania and its ambassador has been expelled not by Albania but by the American dictate. The request for his removal is a fulfillment of the demands that MEK has been making to Albania and many European governments for many years. While MEK and the Americans have been unsuccessful in forcing the Europeans to join John Bolton and Netanyahu’s crusade against Iran, the removal of the Iranian ambassador from Albania seems like a last desperate attempt by Trump administration against the EU.

PM Edi Rama, who should feel very nervous about the way that Israel, the U.S. and MEK have taken control over the foreign policy of his country, has not commented on the event yet. He understands that the old terrorist lady Maryam Rajavi and her jihadi soldiers whom Edi Rama welcomed generously in Albania in 2015, have now managed to take hostage the foreign policies of his country. Edi Rama whose government has voted against Israel and Trump in the United Nations on the question of Jerusalem, in order to appease the Europeans, knows that the Europeans are angry about what is going on with his country’s foreign policy. The expulsion of the Iranian diplomats will not sound good in Brussels. MEK, Israel and the U.S. are using Albania as a prostitute in their confrontation with Europe and Iran. However, Madam Maryam Rajavi, who claims to her jihadi radicals that she is the president-elect of Iran, should be smiling now. The Americans and Israelis have now set her to act as the Foreign Minister of Albania even though Edi Rama welcomed her in Albania in 2015 as a war refugee and not as a member of his government.

Gazeta Impakt, December 19 2018:… On December 15, 2018, at a time when all Albania is protesting demand that the Rama government be dismissed, Rama’s Minister of the Diaspora Pandeli Majko has gone to the annual meeting of Maryam Rajavi with her jihadists at the Mojahedin Camp in Manzas. At this meeting, Pandeli has attacked the government of Iran and has expressed his support for the Iranian terrorist group …

On December 15, 2018, at a time when all Albania is protesting against the corrupt regime of the Resurgence government of Rama, and the Albanian people demand that the Rama government be dismissed, Rama’s Minister of the Diaspora instead of solving the Albanian students’ problems who are protesting against the government, has chosen to resolve Iran’s problems. Together with a bunch of international opportunists, Pandeli has gone to the annual meeting of Maryam Rajavi with her jihadists at the Mojahedin Camp in Manzas.

At this meeting, Pandeli has attacked the government of Iran and has expressed his support for the Iranian terrorist group that the corrupt Rama government harbors and enables with better conditions than Albanians in the jihadist camp in Manzas. Pandeli, who was cheered on by Iranian terrorists and the old terrorist old woman Rajavi, spoke in the jihadist tone, “Thank you very much”. Very excited and talking in broken English he said among other things:

“It’s a great honor as always to talk to you. Not as a minister or a former prime minister, but primarily as your friend. I know, as Mr Patrick Kennedy said earlier, it is a question why Albania has an Iranian official embassy in Tirana, and at the same time we host you. Why both? It’s a simple and honest question. And my answer is that we have had the official Tehran Embassy here for years, and they are here because of international law. But you are here for another cause. The Iranian Embassy represents the country today, while the MEK represents the Iran of the future.

“I am very proud that I and many of my friends are in the hands of Maryam Rajavi, one of the few women who will, with her leadership, change not only the future of Iran but also of the Middle East.

“I know that much news exists that says MEK is a terrorist group, they have done this and have done that. But this does not bother me at all! Because we know you, you came here under the umbrella of the UN and UNHCR. You and terrorism are two different things. You do not have diplomats who use diplomatic status to hide behind as terrorists. But some Iranian officials have done so. And acting like a terrorist while pretending to be a diplomat is a contradiction. But this is not up to me or Albanians, Iranian officials must give their full explanation. Things have changed, and times will change quickly. It is certain that the time is coming, and this piano melody that is playing here in Tirana will be sung throughout Iran as a song.

“I will not speak much, for many reasons, since today I did not know I even had to give a speech. But when you have friends like Hassan, who just said to me: ‘Pandeli, it’s your turn to talk’, believe me when I stand before you myself, a government official, but now that I have met you I know you very well and I’m sure that you and your families now understand that you are not just refugees like a few years ago, but you are now in your land. You have done in less than a year, performed a miracle by building a city. We Albanians say in Albanian: my home is my homeland. Albania is your homeland.

“Thank you”

Pandeli’s speech was one of several at this meeting held by Maryam Rajavi – who along with the others cried over the problems of the Iranian people, people whom she, her husband and her jihadists have killed over the years. Maryam Rajavi’s lips did not mention anything about Albania, which is blocked by protesters demanding regime change. The whole problem for the old terrorists, but also Minister Pandeli Majko who eats Albanian bread, has been Iran.

Pandeli’s speech above, which broke international law and domestic law by saying ‘I do not care that you are terrorists, etc.’, tells of Rama’s arrogance, bribery and thievery. At a time when Tirana and all of Albania are consumed by protest, Pandeli and Maryam Rajavi have chosen to pretend to be a whore when a village burns.

Video of Pandi’s speech, Maryam Rajavi and her followers can be seen here:

Iran Interlink, December 14 2018:… Dr. Mowaffak al Rubaie: The GOI does not deal with the MEK as an organization. We deal with the residents as individuals. The GOI has informed them that as members of a foreign terrorist organization they cannot remain in Iraq and must choose whether to return to their country of citizenship or some other country. Remaining in Iraq is not an option. The GOI has taken steps to assure their security while …

After 2003 the disarmed Iranian terrorist Mojahedin-e Khalq (MEK) organisation was consolidated from various locales in Iraq and protected by US forces at Camp Ashraf in Diyala province; a bizarre anomaly in Iraqi and coalition efforts to bring unity and peace to the country. The Government of Iraq has long regarded the MEK as a foreign terrorist group which continues to threaten internal security and is culpable for aiding Saddam Hussein in the violent suppression of Kurdish and Shia uprisings in 1991. Successive announcements in 2008 by President Jalal Talabani and Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari made clear their government’s determination to expel all the MEK members as soon as possible.

But solving the conundrum as to why the group has been protected and promoted by western interests for all this time has become clearer since January this year when responsibility for Camp Ashraf was handed over to the Government of Iraq by the Coalition Forces. As the Government of Iraq has moved swiftly to fulfil its decision to expel members of the MEK from the country, so the protests by those who have a stake in the continued presence of the group have intensified.

During March, three debates were held in the UK parliament by members supporting the MEK. In spite of being on the US terrorism list since 1997, CBS and CNN news channels have broadcast MEK films showing its personnel obstructing Iraqi authorities as they try to perform their duties. Additionally, the Washington Post has quoted an MEK spokesman in which he is threatening the Government of Iraq that “a human catastrophe” will follow further action.

Even though Europe and the UK have un-proscribed the group as it claims to no longer believe in violence, no moves have been made to have European and British citizens and those with residency rights removed from Camp Ashraf to safety. Instead, powerful lobbies who have used the MEK for their own interests are continuing their efforts to force the Government of Iraq to maintain the infrastructure of a terrorist organisation in its country. Keeping the group in Iraq can only serve the interests of those Saddamists who still believe the group will give them leverage over the Government of Iraq.

Spearheading Government plans to remove the MEK is Iraq’s national security advisor Dr. Mowaffak al Rubaie. His role is to advise the Government of Iraq and coordinate policies and activity in relation to national security and intelligence matters.

Over several months Dr. al Rubaie has fielded criticisms and attacks with repeated assurances that the residents of Camp Ashraf will be treated according to international human rights standards and that none would be forcibly repatriated. To date, nothing has occurred at Camp Ashraf to give any cause for concern to human rights organisations. In recent weeks two MEK members departed Camp Ashraf voluntarily. One confessed that he had been instructed to commit suicide in order to implicate Iraq’s Army. These two men, who were protected and comfortably accommodated by the Iraqi Government under observation by the ICRC and the Iraqi Ministry of Human Rights, spoke openly of the human rights violations perpetrated by the leaders on MEK members. It was partly in response to this information that Dr. al Rubaie has focused efforts to protect the individuals inside the camp.

Indeed Dr. al Rubaie’s plan for the difficult task of dismantling an extremist cult has revealed an enlightened, humanitarian approach which could become a blueprint for tackling similar organisations worldwide.

However, as the clamour continues, I asked Dr. al Rubaie for an interview in order to further clarify his Government’s approach to events at Camp Ashraf.

–

Iraq’s National Security Advisor Dr. Mowaffak al Rubaie

Anne Singleton: You want to move the residents from Camp Ashraf for their own protection, yet the MEK commanders say they must remain in Camp Ashraf. What do you think motivates them? al Rubaie: The self-appointed leaders at Camp Ashraf will have to speak for themselves. What I will address is how the residents of Camp Ashraf have cooperated or not cooperated with the policies and decisions of the Government of Iraq. The GOI does not deal with the MEK as an organization. We deal with the residents as individuals. The GOI has informed them that as members of a foreign terrorist organization they cannot remain in Iraq and must choose whether to return to their country of citizenship or some other country. Remaining in Iraq is not an option. The GOI has taken steps to assure their security while beginning to exercise sovereignty at Camp Ashraf as we do in every other part of our country. Ashraf is not above the law. Any infractions of Iraqi law will be handled by the GOI authorities with attention to due process and humanitarian standards. To date, the residents of Camp Ashraf have created a series of obstacles to the legitimate exercise of sovereignty by the GOI and this will not be tolerated. They must cooperate in order to avoid obstructing our authorities carrying out their legitimate duties.

AS: Some observers speculate that MEK leader Massoud Rajavi is in the anti-nuclear bunker inside Camp Ashraf and that is why the commanders refuse to move. Do you think this is possible? MR: We do not know exactly what is within the bounds of Camp Ashraf. The GOI has informed the residents that we will diligently and progressively examine all areas of Ashraf to ensure there is no contraband, that there are no illegal activities taking place, and that they must cooperate with this legitimate exercise of Iraqi sovereignty and enforcement of the rule of law.

AS: You have spoken of ‘detoxifying’ the people in Camp Ashraf. Could you explain what this means and why you feel it is necessary? What do you hope to achieve? MR: As you know from observing the behavior of the MEK and from their history, this is an indoctrinated and tightly disciplined organization of extremist zealots who have employed terrorism and at times even self-immolation to secure their aims. In normal everyday language we can say that they have been “brainwashed”. As is common in organizations of this type, the indoctrination and discipline rely on the continuous pressure of their leaders and the total control by them of their environment. Therefore, individuals have little ability to exercise their free will because they exist in this closed environment and fear for personal reprisals if they are discovered to have deviated from the approved line of responses. As we strive to determine from each individual where they wish to go since they cannot remain in Iraq, we are conducting individual surveys and a census which are open to oversight by the ICRC and the UN. We believe that if we can separate individuals from the all-encompassing domination by their leaders, we can allow them to begin to exercise their rights as individuals and make appropriate choices. That is, we hope to remove them from the toxic effects of their indoctrination and leaders.

AS: CBS and CNN have been broadcasting clips showing women shouting at and insulting Iraqi soldiers from behind closed gates. Could tell us more about what these scenes depict. MR: You will have to ask CBS and CNN when and under what circumstances they obtained their filmed scenes. What I can tell you is that the Iraqi Army unit posted to defend and secure Camp Ashraf has been in full control since 20 February and has exercised patience and extreme restraint in spite of the staged provocations and demonstrations that Ashraf’s self-appointed leaders have launched in defiance of the legitimate exercise by the GOI of its sovereignty.

AS: Families are concerned about having access to their relatives without MEK minders being present. Do you see a time in the near future that such visits can be facilitated? MR: The GOI has already facilitated visits by families and has provided the residents of Camp Ashraf written procedures which are fully permissive. Our security forces at Camp Ashraf have and will continue to facilitate legitimate family visits with no interference by either the MEK or anyone else. These visits are also completely open to ICRC and UN observation. The MEK have been the obstacle to establishing a comfortable facility for such family visits.

AS: The MEK claim that the Government of Iraq has not allowed medical personnel or medical supplies into the camp and that this has resulted in the deaths of some women and that others are dying. They want ICRC and UNHCR intervention. What is your response to this allegation? MR: These allegations are false and baseless.

AS: The MEK’s supporters have paid millions in legal fees to have the group removed from the UK and European Council terrorism lists. Have any of the group’s western supporters offered to help remove these people to their countries? MR: The GOI has communicated with ambassadors from the European Union and all other countries we suspect have citizens or persons with some claim to residency in their countries. We have asked them to offer to allow those with status in their countries to return and to consider hosting others who may want to reside in their countries. We have facilitated visits by representatives of these countries to Camp Ashraf. We are hopeful that this level of openness and transparency by the GOI will persuade these countries to allow such returns.

AS: In your view, what can the UK, European and other western governments do to help resettle the MEK? MR: These governments can agree to allow their citizens and others who have status in their country to return.

AS: The Washington Post quoted MEK member Mohammad Mohaddessin clearly threatening that self-immolations similar to 2003 and other suicide acts would be performed by the residents of Camp Ashraf. What is your response to this? MR: We have and will continue to treat the residents of Camp Ashraf humanely and in accordance with Iraqi law and international law and conventions. We will not initiate acts of violence against them. We do expect them to cooperate in our efforts to exercise our sovereignty according to the rule of law. Should they choose extremist acts such as self-immolation, it will be their decision which we would regret.

MEK’s Western backers are complicit in their deaths (aka Mojahedin Khalq, Rajavi cult)

Anne Khodabandeh (Singleton), Middle East Strategy Consultants, December 27 2013: … In the past year over 8,000 people have died in violent incidents in Iraq. The problem is not that the MEK are being singled out for attack, the real problem is that nobody is allowed to get inside Camp Liberty to help rescue these people from their enforced captivity. Nobody is allowed to help them or …

MEK’s Western backers are complicit in their deaths (aka Mojahedin Khalq, Rajavi cult)

This is the second time head of the Mukhtar Army Wathiq al-Battat has claimed responsibility for attacks on the MEK. In February, in an interview with Al-Mada Press, al-Battat said he did not rule out the possibility of further attacks on Camp Liberty, and emphasized that they are waiting in ambush for the terrorist MEK until they leave Iraq. In a separate interview with the Associated Press, al-Battat said, “It is time for the people of the MEK to leave Iraq. We have demanded that the government kick the group out of the country, but the Iraqi government did not respond positively to our demand”.

In the past year over 8,000 people have died in violent incidents in Iraq. The problem is not that the MEK are being singled out for attack, the real problem is that nobody is allowed to get inside Camp Liberty to help rescue these people from their enforced captivity. Nobody is allowed to help them or to relocate them or save their lives. In spite of the diverse efforts of various parties, MEK leaders have refused to allow any party to help or rescue the residents first in Camp Ashraf and latterly in Camp Liberty.

Maryam Rajavi may be able to lie to and deceive the captive members and those supporters who have not the intellectual or moral capacity to question or challenge her script, but these are the facts:

· In 2003, the IRI offered an amnesty to rank and file members who renounced their membership of the terrorist group and other political activity can return home under the supervision of the Red Cross in Iran. To date this has been honoured.

· Iraq’s constitution, its polity and its judicial system will never allow the MEK terrorist organisation to remain in the country. To date the government and the security services have shown commendable restraint and compliance with international law, above the demands of national law, as embodied by the agency of UNAMI.

· Since 2009, America and European countries have offered to take several of the captives; initially those who have had previous connection with their countries or have family members there.

· The UN has instigated refugee determination interviews to assess the eligibility of all the captives. Some have been enabled to be transferred to Albania after such interviews.

· Individual families have travelled to Iraq on several occasions to try to reach their relatives. For three years families of residents held vigil outside Camp Ashraf demanding contact with their loved ones which the MEK leaders denied.

To date the Rajavis have refused to cooperate with all of these attempts to help and rescue the residents and take them to safety.

As a result, since 2003 there have been numerous deaths among the residents of Camp Ashraf and Camp Liberty: through rocket or missile attack (including this latest one), during interventions by the Iraqi military, untreated illness and disease, uninvestigated suicides or murders. Most of these could have been prevented. It is no longer acceptable that the Rajavis blame every other party to this crisis and refuse to acknowledge their part. Nobody will buy that any more. If there was even one iota of accountability in the totalitarian system of the MEK the leadership would have been expelled by now.

But is it ludicrous to imagine that one or even two people – whether Maryam and/or Massoud Rajavi – are capable of acting alone to prevent all this help from reaching the people in the camp. There are others who have a clear interest in keeping them locked away behind closed doors.

For years now the presence of the MEK in Iraq has had nothing to do with Iran. The MEK’s own policy of ‘regime change’ or ‘overthrow of the Iranian regime’ was abandoned several years ago, possibly as long ago as 2003. Since then the MEK has been taken up and used by western backers to interfere in the internal affairs of Iraq. This was made abundantly clear in the work of the European Parliament’s Iraq Delegation which shamelessly supported and promoted the MEK’s presence in Iraq in defiance of the government’s decision to expel the group and in spite of the constitutional requirement to remove them.

All the lobbying on behalf of the MEK is to do with preserving it as a terrorist organisation for its backers to use in pursuit of their anti-Iraq agenda. There is no intention on the part of those who use the group to have it dismantled, or to have the residents rescued. The group must either remain in Iraq or, if pushed, they must move altogether without anyone talking with them. Although it is glib to claim that MOSSAD and the CIA are the MEK’s main backers, we only have to look at a recent report from Sofia which reveals that during a visit to Romania, the US Secretary of State John Kerry and the Romanian Foreign Minister discussed the possibility of settling all 3000+ MEK members together near the city of Craiova. In other words, if this terrorist group must be moved, it must be moved as a whole. That such a discussion and plan could take place at this level is ample evidence that even at the highest levels of power there is no intention of dismantling the group and helping the individual members out of captivity. Instead there is a sense of ownership which clearly states ‘this is our terrorist group, we will do as we like with it and use it as we like’.

Such owners pay for the name of the MEK – and the 3000 members to pretend it is a viable group. They are playing with the lives of these people for their own agenda and as long as the MEK are useful in this way they won’t allow help to be given or anyone to go in to rescue them. While Maryam Rajavi lives with every convenience and comfort in Paris, the rest must remain in Iraq, targets for missile attacks. For the MEK leaders every one of them who dies is a martyr and every one of them who survives is a witness. It is clear what the outcome should be for the Rajavis. They will expend their blood in whatever way suits them to fulfil the agenda of their backers, but clearly they will end up killing all of them sooner or later. And those who use the MEK in any way and deny help to the individuals are complicit in this scenario.

UK must rescue modern slaves from clutches of Mojahedin Khalq (Rajavi cult) in Iraq

Anne Khodabandeh (Singleton), Middle East Strategy Consultants, November 24 2013: … When assessing these considerations it is vital that the UK government remember that these people are victims of modern slavery, and above all that their lives are in danger at the hands of their ‘owners’ Massoud and Maryam Rajavi. Several residents of Camp Liberty are already on enforced hunger …

UK must rescue modern slaves from clutches of Mojahedin Khalq (Rajavi cult) in Iraq

The recent discovery of three modern slaves in a quiet area in London has echoes of the situation of the three thousand hostages in Camp Liberty in Iraq. In each case the victims were brought together thirty years ago to live collectively as part of a shared political ideology. In London, as in Iraq, this went wrong when the use of emotional and physical abuse was used to enslave the victims against their will.

Just as the three women in London have had traumatic and disturbing experiences, so the escapees from Camp Liberty have described the systematic use of psychological, emotional and physical abuses behind closed doors to keep them under the control of brutal, exploitative leaders.

As in London, the victims of the Mojahedin Khalq are left emotionally fragile and highly vulnerable. Their needs for a careful and compassionate process of recovery and rehabilitation are similar. This can only be achieved if they are protected from their former ‘owners’ who will try their utmost to collect them back up and return them to conditions of slavery.

Under the terms of an agreement struck between UNAMI and the government of Iraq in 2009 to remove the Mojahedin Khalq organisation from Iraqi territory in line with the country’s constitution, the United Nations High Commission for Refugees has asked the UK to re-admit 52 residents of Camp Ashraf who were previously settled in the UK but no longer have immigration status. Each individual will be assessed by the UNHCR to ensure they have not been complicit in acts of terrorism or other activities incompatible with refugee status.

When assessing these considerations it is vital that the UK government remember that these people are victims of modern slavery, and above all that their lives are in danger at the hands of their ‘owners’ Massoud and Maryam Rajavi. Several residents of Camp Liberty are already on enforced hunger strike over a spurious issue; their option to continue or not has been removed as they are being denied access to food. Other residents have already been killed through the deprivation of medical treatment, or having been placed in direct danger of attack as occurred in the 1st September incident at Camp Ashraf.

Just as the London victims were enslaved for thirty years, so the members of the Mojahedin Khalq have been isolated and abused behind closed doors for thirty years. The government of Iraq and UNAMI must act to open the doors of the camp and gain access to these residents. Western governments must make a genuine effort to undertake the rescue of these victims and give them refuge. Above all they must ensure that they are saved from further abuse when they arrive in their countries as, without safe and targeted support, the Mojahedin Khalq leaders – who operate openly and freely in western countries – will easily search them out and enthral them once again.

Loving families offer security and a future for Camp Liberty residents in Iraq

Anne Khodabandeh (Singleton), September 17 2013: … Once it is acknowledged that the residents of Camp Liberty are individuals and not pawns to be deployed or destroyed, and the MEK leaders are required to restore their basic freedoms, then solutions as to what can be done with them will not be difficult to find. First and foremost of these is to reunite them …

A Mother looking for her daughter in Iraq

Loving families offer security and a future for Camp Liberty residents in Iraq

As usual, when a crisis erupts among the Mojahedin Khalq in Iraq, the world and his dog are ready to jump in and use it as a platform to push their own agenda based on their own interpretation of events.

We have US lobbyists in Washington telling the UN – which is conducting an investigation on the ground – not only who perpetrated the attack but also what to do about it. We have Iran dancing with joy over the ‘elimination’ of its enemies, though more circumspectly adding that Iran itself will pursue vengeance through legal channels.

It’s easy to sit outside the country and talk. It’s easy to hold the Iraqis responsible for everything that happens in their country in disregard of the blatant interference from every side.

The long suffering government of Iraq – which is also conducting an investigation of its own – yet again reminds UNAMI and Western governments that the MEK cannot stay in their country. For thirty years the Mojahedin Khalq has been working there for the benefit of America and western interests; which paid a middleman called Massoud Rajavi for their services. The MEK consequently killed thousands of Iraqis. The country cannot now be expected to continue to play host to such a terrorist group.

But behind all the noise and squabbles of the various political bodies there echoes a profound silence. We never, ever get to hear from the people who are themselves directly involved, the MEK rank and file. Of course, on September 1st, the day of the attack on Camp Ashraf, the MEK leadership almost instantly broadcast its own ‘Hollywood Blockbuster’ version of events, with films of the assailants creeping up on the camp and graphic pictures of the aftermath; images replete with contradictions and inconsistencies.

But what of the victims, those survivors and injured who have now been taken to Camp Liberty? What of the people already in Camp Liberty? We never get to hear how they feel, nor about whether they are worried about being the next targets, nor about how they want their futures to unfold.

For American politicians and lobbyists these individuals are only pawns in a political game which they propose to win at all costs. For the Iranians and the Iraqis these are terrorists who do not deserve a voice. More importantly, as UNAMI officials can confirm, the people in Camp Liberty are being held incommunicado by the leaders of the cult. And as long as the MEK plays its valuable role as a brand on which to hang an advertising campaign then nobody is looking for a solution.

However, America has a moral duty toward these individuals who have done so much for them. America also has an international obligation to the government of a sovereign Iraq after ‘liberating’ the country from former American ally Saddam Hussein and killing hundreds of thousands of Iraqis in the process. America must put pressure on the MEK leaders to finally get out of Iraq, to open up the camp and allow the residents to leave as individuals and not as members of a terrorist group. This of course simply requires quiet, dignified co-operation with the UN and Iraqi officials who are there to oversee and facilitate exactly this occurrence. Even the MEK’s own Iranian supporters in the west are begging the leaders for such co-operation.

Once it is acknowledged that the residents of Camp Liberty are individuals and not pawns to be deployed or destroyed, and the MEK leaders are required to restore their basic freedoms, then solutions as to what can be done with them will not be difficult to find. First and foremost of these is to reunite them with their families. The 52 people who died in Camp Ashraf all had families. The remainder who have been transferred to Camp Liberty all have families, as do all the other residents there. Since 2003 many of these families have sought contact with their loved ones and been denied by the MEK leadership who are afraid of the compassionate influence their presence exerts over their loved ones. In 2009 a determined group of families set up a permanent picket outside Camp Ashraf resulting in the decision of several MEK to leave the camp and return to civilian life; this gradual process of attrition continues at Camp Liberty. Observers on the ground are in no doubt that had families still been permitted to remain there as a normalising presence, then the events of September 1st would not, could not have occurred.

When looking for a permanent solution for the residents, anybody with any sincerity must acknowledge that the involvement of these people’s families can offer the emotional, financial and mental security needed for them to return to normal life wherever they finally settle. Beyond this, the normalising presence of families at Camp Liberty will forestall the opportunity for further attacks.

Where are the 42 missing Mojahedin Khalq eye witnesses from Camp Ashraf?

Massoud Khodabandeh, Iranian.com, December 16 2013: … Rajavi and his wife, Maryam, ordered their followers to go on a hunger strike – which has now incredibly passed one hundred days – to demand the return of the seven, who, like Rajavi himself, have apparently disappeared without trace. Because it is not known where the seven are being held nor by whom, or indeed whether …

Where are the 42 missing Mojahedin Khalq eye witnesses from Camp Ashraf?

Forty two eye witnesses to the attack on Camp Ashraf on September 1st 2013 have mysteriously disappeared after they were transferred to Camp Liberty on September 11th. Officials from the Government of Iraq (GOI), which has been tasked by the United Nations to investigate the attack in which fifty three people died, have been unable to contact the survivors since they were relocated under UNAMI supervision, and Camp Ashraf was finally closed.

At the time the attack took place, the Mojahedin Khalq had maintained a symbolic force of around one hundred loyalists at Camp Ashraf, ostensibly to sell off MEK assets although this never happened. Fifty three residents were killed in brutal execution style during the attack by unknown assailants, but afterwards MEK leaders refused to fully cooperate with teams of concerned visitors and investigators from the UN, the US embassy and the GOI.

Deputy Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General (DSRSG), Mr Gyorgy Busztin visited the camp on September 3rd and tasked the Iraqi government to “ensure that a thorough, impartial and transparent investigation into this atrocious crime is conducted without delay and that the results of the investigation are made public”. After extensive searches inside Camp Ashraf and widespread enquiries in the immediate vicinity and beyond, Iraqi investigators are still unable to say who perpetrated the attack, nor what actually took place inside the camp. It did not help that the MEK have refused to hand over many films and photographs which they took themselves just before, during and in the aftermath of the attack. It soon became clear however that the MEK had interfered with the scene by moving several bodies to create visual scenarios for propaganda purposes and had also destroyed key evidence before investigators were able to get inside the camp.

Speaking on the day Camp Ashraf was finally evacuated and closed, one Iraqi official claimed that videos of the clashes at the camp released by the MEK reveal that “most of the dead were actually killed by their own fellows at the camp.” However, the forty two individuals who were in the camp during the attack have not subsequently been produced to help with enquiries. The official again complained about the refusal of MEK commanders to cooperate with the investigators.

The MEK claimed that seven of its named members went missing from Camp Ashraf after the attack and, in what experts on MEK behaviour regard as a diversionary tactic, alleged, “they were taken hostage by Iraqi forces and flown to Amara province to be extradited to Iran”. Both the GOI and the Iranian government have denied any involvement in the attack and say they have no knowledge as to the whereabouts of the seven named persons who were Massoud Rajavi’s closest cohort inside Iraq. Rajavi himself has been in hiding for ten years and is therefore unavailable for comment.

Rajavi and his wife, Maryam, ordered their followers to go on a hunger strike – which has now incredibly passed one hundred days – to demand the return of the seven, who, like Rajavi himself, have apparently disappeared without trace. Because it is not known where the seven are being held nor by whom, or indeed whether they are still alive, the hunger strike is awkwardly open ended as it addresses no party known to be able to ‘hand them over’. Commentators have pointed out anyway that the logic behind the hunger strikers’ demand does not tally with the accusation that those who brutally murdered fifty three people are now holding the missing seven. Wouldn’t such people actually be glad if more MEK members starve to death?

Western media sympathetic to the MEK’s role in Iraq have recently reported that unknown ‘independent UN experts’ want the GOI to speed up its investigation into this specific issue. According to Reuters, the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances said in a statement, “We call upon the Government of Iraq to speed up the investigations in order to disclose the fate and whereabouts of the [seven] individuals.”

The working group added that “the impunity with which these crimes have been committed is particularly flagrant given the severity of the offences and the alleged evidence of engagement by Iraqi forces in the commission of these crimes.”

A UN Special Rapporteur – this time on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions – Christof Heyns, said “international law clearly requires governments to ensure that all allegations of killings are investigated in a prompt, effective and impartial manner, irrespective of who the perpetrator is.”

But while Rajavi used these media reports to justify continuing the hunger strike, Iraqi investigators have stressed that even though this statement empowers Iraq to interview the forty two individual eye witnesses to the events at Camp Ashraf, until now the UN has failed to produce them and has instead allowed them to be swallowed up by the Rajavi cult’s camp commanders at Camp Liberty, to which neither the UN nor the GOI has access. This is in spite of the fact that these are key witnesses and without their testimony the investigation cannot be completed.

MEK experts working with the GOI on this issue, have warned United Nations human rights officials responsible for the camp of their grave concerns for the wellbeing of the forty two as well as the hunger strikers in Camp Liberty. News leaked from inside the camp by dissident members still held there, indicates that the forty two are being held incommunicado and that nobody has seen or heard of them since their arrival there. It is evident that the forty two hold vital information which the MEK leaders do not want to be made public. There can be no doubt they are under severe pressure to conceal the truth about what happened at Camp Ashraf. The concern is that, if they do not succumb to this pressure they may be killed. The United Nations Special Rapporteur should demand immediate and unmediated access to these missing persons to ascertain their wellbeing. As it is also alleged that the MEK commanders are deliberately withholding food from the hunger strikers in Camp Liberty, and this abuse should also be investigated as a matter of urgency.

The GOI has said on several occasions it would like to be more assertive in finding ways to get inside the camp and have free and unfettered access to all the individuals residing there, and to be able to separate those who would like to leave voluntarily. They are, however, severely hampered by obedience to UNAMI and what Iraqi MP, Rafe’ Abdul Jabbar, described as “the glacial pace in the relocation process of the MEK members to third countries. He said, “Baghdad is obeying the UN in this regard and this organization is obeying the US. We should admit that Iraq’s independence is still far away”.

Massoud Khodabandeh, Iranian.com, October 11 2013: … The security of meetings held in Geneva is not in your hands, nor is it in the hands of Iran, but violent activity will have dire consequences for all sides. It is important to put the MEK where it belongs – it has no place in the political […]

Massoud Khodabandeh, Iran Interlink, September 11 2013: … There is strong evidence that the aim of the attack on Camp Ashraf was to capture or kill Massoud Rajavi on the understanding he has been in hiding there. If that is the case, then the seven missing people, who have been identified as Rajavi’s close inner […]

Massoud Khodabandeh, Iranian.com, September 05 2013: … This also begs the obvious question, ‘why would the Iraqi forces brutally murder half the residents then leave the remainder free to film the victims, send the films to the MEK HQ and allow these pictures to be distributed to the world?’ What possible motivation would they have?No, […]

Mohammad Karami, Paris, November 28 2013: … after the recent exposures and revelations by the survivors of the cult, in particular after Dr. Karim Ghasim, Dr. Mohammad Reza Rohani left the National Council of Resistance (NCRI, another name for Mojahedin Khalq) and the recent revelations made by Hadi Afshar (Saeed Jamali), Iraj Mesdaghi and others, the Leadership …

According to news coming from inside the Mojahedin Khalq terrorist cult HQ in France, after the recent exposures and revelations by the survivors of the cult, in particular after Dr. Karim Ghasim, Dr. Mohammad Reza Rohani left the National Council of Resistance (NCRI, another name for Mojahedin Khalq) and the recent revelations made by Hadi Afshar (Saeed Jamali), Iraj Mesdaghi and others, the Leadership of the MEK have held a meeting chaired by Maryam Rajavi (Joint leader of the cult with her husband Massoud Rajavi) in which they have been discussing the effects of the revelations as well as deciding a line of action for damage limitation to the cult.

At the end of this meeting they decided the following lines of action to counter the effects of the revelations made by survivors of the cult and by political personalities as well as criticisms made by some of the nearest people to the organisation who now demand explanations:

– to create a false negative impression of the ex members and critics in their places of residence and among their social circles, and to start gathering signatures against them in these place;

– to collect some signatures and then make petitions and increase the number by adding false names (as they usually do) and then send these en-mass to all the relevant local places including town halls, churches, Party HQs etc and introduce these critics as terrorists who are in direct contact with Iran and the secret services of that country and therefore a danger to their society;

– to commission their paid lobbyists in parliaments, paid MPs and other bought, known people (working or retired) to create false documents against the critics of the terrorist organisation and send them to the foreign ministries of the relevant countries and other places;

– to gather factual information about the individuals, add false information between the lines, and produce documents against them. Then send their paid lobbyists to meet with judicial channels, police, politicians etc and produce damaging reports against these critics.

One such example is Amrollah Ebrahimi, a paid agent of the Mojahedin Khalq (NCRI,MKO ,MEK, Rajavi cult) who is tasked to gather and organise lobbyists among Netherlands’s Members of Parliament. Another part of his job is to employ character assassination against given targets on the internet to portray them as corrupt by falsifying stories about them.

It is noticeable that up to this point there has not been any evidence that this expensive line of action and tactic has worked as the only people who have been listening to this disinformation are the cult members.

Mohammad Razaghi, Paris,October 18 2013: … Ali Mansouri was resident in Turkey between 1980 and 1998 and was in charge of gathering intelligence from inside Iran. He himself would travel to Iran every now and then. The MEK, of course, was very keen to keep him and his work secret. I remember clearly a […]

Nasrin Ebrahimi, Nim Negah, Switzerland, April 10 2013 (Translated by Nejat Society): … Nasrin Ebrahimi is a former member of the Mujahedin Khalq Organization, who fled the group in 2006. She was one of the first survivors of the Cult-like MKO who dared to reveal the corruption of the leaders of the group. She was the first […]

Mohammad Karami, Faryade Azadi, Paris, June 19 2013: … As you know, Mojahedin Khalq Organisation (aka; MKO, MEK, NCRI,…) have booked a salon in Parc des Exposition de Villeprinte to celebrate the start of their terror activities in June 1981 killing many civilian people. 17 June is also the aniversary of the arrest of Mrs. […]

David William Pear, The Greenville Post, December 13 2018:… The fact that Mujahideen-e-Khalq, MEK has killed US citizens in terrorist attacks did not hinder some US politicians from accepting large speaking fees at their conventions, even when MEK was still on the US terrorist list. The US has also instigated instability inside Iran and supported external attacks by terrorist groups such as Mujahideen-e-Khalq, or MEK …

Tasnim News, December 13 2018:… The US has extended its sponsorship of terrorism to a vicious terrorist cult, the MKO, that has murdered more than 17,000 Iranians and many Iraqis and who currently cozy up to the highest political figures in Washington to destabilize Iran through terrorist activities. Here, Mr. President, I would like to stress that according to the Charter, this Council represents all Member States thus its decision should …

Sarah Lazare, In These Times, December 11 2018:… She has also repeatedly vocalized her support for the Mojahedin-e Khalq (MEK), alongside John Bolton, Rudy Giuliani and Newt Gingrich. With virtually no legitimacy within Iran, the MEK is a favorite among neocons because it aggressively lobbies for U.S. military confrontation with Iran, and arguing that its head, Maryam Rajavi, is the rightful leader of Iran. The organization …

Nejat Society, December 11 2018:… The violent nature of the Mujahedin Khalq Organization (the MKO/ MEK/ PMOI/ the Cult of Rajavi) has always been the important issue of critics and arguments between journalists, analysts and those politicians who support the group and consider it as a democratic alternative to the Iranian government. “The MEK’s efforts over the past two decades to convey a benign public image completely …

IRNA, December 11 2018:… ‘They spread terrorism in the region in the name of human rights. Today, Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO) is no different from Daesh (ISIS); human rights cannot grow with bombing exploding mosques and religious centers.’ The advisor to the chief of the judiciary on international affairs added, ‘The enmity of the US and the West with Islam is deep-rooted; now that Iran is the heartland of the …

Aawa Association, December 08 2018:… Anne Khodabandeh, placed the MEK’s current survival in the context of Neoconservative support. This means that in spite of well documented severe human rights violations, the MEK’s ‘regime change’ narrative is supported by paid advocates. The danger however is that the MEK will escalate their false flag ops in Europe which are blamed on Iran, only this time Europeans may be killed …

Iran Interlink, December 07 2018:… A week-long Exhibition and introductory Speakers panel were held at the Press Club in Brussels this week, organised by Aawa Association of Germany. The panel was chaired by Reza Jabelli, Service Etat Civil et Population. Panellists were Anne Khodabandeh, Open Minds, De-Radicalization Consultant, and two female MEK survivors, Batoul Soltani and Homeira Mohammad Nejad …

James Carden with Dr. Trita Parsi, The Nation, December 06 2018:… The MeK is of little use if the objective is regime change, due to their immense unpopularity in Iran, the Trump administration seems to believe that they can be helpful for regime collapse and a potential Civil War, mindful of this terrorist organization’s extensive experience in sabotage, terrorism, assassinations, and even regular warfare. The MeK is a violent terrorist cult …

Nejat Society, December 03 2018:… Since the relocation of the Mujahedin Khalq Organization in Albania and defections from the group, more revelations were made. Gholam Reza Shekari who left the group in 2017 recounted his traumatic experience of torture in the MKO’s jail in an interview with Spiegel. Shokri said that they had closed their eyes and took him to a clandestine jail. “They insulted me calling me spy of the Mullah’s regime,” he recounts …

Various sources, December 02 2018:… Dear Mr SOKOL BALLA and the Vision Plus TV in Albania, I suggest that the next time you want to report about the MEK, it would be better to ask them about their past, about forced divorces, working with Saddam Hussein, and imprisonment and torture inside Camp Ashraf. And in addition, invite investigative delegations to

Arron Merat, The Guardian, December 01 2018:… Ex members accuse Maryam_Rajavi of coordinating routine sexual abuse. Many of these women lost their wombs.They fought for the Iranian revolution – and then for Saddam Hussein. The US and UK once condemned them. But now their opposition to Tehran has made them favourites of Trump White House hardliners …

Recent posts

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